As most newshounds already know, the Supreme Court has drastically reduced the damages victims of the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill will get.

Originally slated to receive $5 billion, then $2.5 billion, now the approximately 30,000 claimants will get $500 million to split among themselves.

The ruling has hit people in Cordova, Alaska – home of some of the most severe damage caused by the spill – especially hard.

“People are talking ,and they’re very upset,” says Joyce Kusmider who works at the town liquor store and helped clean up the spill two decades ago. “A lot of dreams have been shattered.”

Here’s something you probably didn’t know: After getting repaired, The Valdez went back to plying the oceans, before being mothballed several years ago. Until its retirement, the ship was known as the Mediterranean.